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CALM
Newsletter December
2000 [No.5 2000]
In this issue:
"Compliments
of the Season!"
This
cheery traditional greeting will be heard from many lips as
we approach the end of the year 2000 and anticipate the pleasures
of the Christmas and New Year holidays.
But expressions
of goodwill to our family and friends are sometimes not enough.
As part of your association with the International Campaign
to Ban Landmines, we ask you to think outside New Zealand to
those unfortunate, innocent victims of landmines and include
them in your Christmas giving or Christmas prayers. (Why not
ask your minister or religious group to include prayers for
landmine victims in the Christmas - or Ramadan, or Hanukah -
services?)
And on
1 January, for your New Year Resolutions at this turn of the
Millennium (you can expect less hype and fewer fireworks, but
that's what it really is!), CALM invites you to make a commitment
to
- Donate
to an organization providing humanitarian aid to landmine
victims (Cambodia Trust, Oxfam, Save the Children Fund, World
Vision and Unicef all give such aid); or
- Speak
or write to your MP about the need for New Zealand to keep
on supporting the Ottawa Treaty and the worldwide anti-landmine
campaign; or
- Pass
on information from this newsletter to your family, friends
and neighbours (especially youthful ones) about the need to
keep the campaign going.
Every
action, however small, makes the world safer against landmines
and better for their victims. And we close by wishing you, from
CALM, "Compliments of the season."
.
Neil
Mander
CALM Convenor
ICBL
challenges governments to complete stockpile destruction by
September 2001
(Buenos
Aires, 6 November 2000) At the opening of the second hemispheric
conference on banning landmines, the International Campaign
to Ban Landmines (ICBL) urged governments of the Americas to
accelerate their destruction of stockpiled antipersonnel mines
ahead of the September 2001 global diplomatic landmine meeting
in Nicaragua.
"With
near universal acceptance of the Mine Ban Treaty throughout
this region, it is fitting that the Third Meeting of States
Parties to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty will take place in Nicaragua
in September 2001," said Liz Bernstein, ICBL Coordinator.
"The ICBL challenges governments of this region to accelerate
stockpile destruction programs with the ultimate goal of establishing
the Western Hemisphere as a mine free zone."
According
to a Landmine Monitor Fact Sheet there are at least 12 million
antipersonnel landmines stockpiled in thirteen countries of
the region. The United States holds the vast majority of these
mines, with 11.2 million. Other states holding stockpiled antipersonnel
mines include Perú (330,840), Ecuador (170,344), Nicaragua
(91,813), Argentina (89,170), Brazil (35,012), Chile (possibly
22,000), Colombia (possibly 18,000), Honduras (9,439) and Uruguay
(2,338). Cuba, Guyana and Venezuela are believed to hold stockpiled
mines but the numbers are unknown. Landmine Monitor has not
been able to confirm whether Costa Rica or Suriname possesses
landmine stockpiles.
"While
the task of removing mines from the ground remains a vital and
urgent priority, the ICBL urges rapid stockpile destruction
as a form of 'preventive mine action,' said Mary Wareham, Human
Rights Watch, Coordinator of the ICBL's Landmine Monitor verification
initiative. "It is far cheaper and simpler to destroy mines
on the shelves than once they are in the ground," she added.
Under the
terms of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, States Parties are required
to destroy all stockpiled antipersonnel (AP) mines within four
years of entry into force but many countries have destroyed
their stockpiles ahead of time, including Canada, El Salvador,
and Guatemala from the region.
The ICBL
also remains concerned that several governments of the region
intend to retain a large number of stockpiled mines for training
purposes, including Brazil (17,000), Ecuador (16,000) and Peru
(9,526).
Only two
governments from the region have not yet joined the Mine Ban
Treaty -- Cuba and the USA - and of the remaining 33 Western
Hemisphere countries, all but six are States Parties. The six
that have signed but not ratified the treaty are Chile, Guyana,
Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Uruguay.
The ICBL calls on these nations to follow-through on their commitment
to the antipersonnel mine ban by ratifying the treaty now.
.
Youth involvement in the campaign against
landmines
The last
sheet of this newsletter brings information about two youth
initiatives:
Youth Agenda
for Peace and Justice, arising from the Hague Peace Conference
of May 1999
Youth Against War, organized through Mines Action Canada
If you are
no longer youthful yourself (we leave this judgment entirely
to you), please make an effort to pass on the page to someone
you know who could be interested in becoming involved in activities
against landmines and against war.
If not to
an individual, perhaps to your local school or youth group.
.
LANDMINE PUBLICITY RESOURCES
If you are looking for ways to commemorate the anniversary on
1 March 2001 of the Landmine Ban Treaty coming into operation
(on 1 March 1999), or if your Peace Group is looking for a theme
for a meeting, you should be aware that CALM has a variety of
posters, coloured slides, videos, an audio tape and written
material that could help to vitalise the topic. Contact Neil
Mander or John Head if you would like them to arrange for a
guest speaker.
Army
Engineers based in Linton have a magnificent display on landmines
for major conferences.
Some of
the recommended colour videos that are available now are:
Are We the Enemy? 13 min, produced by the Women's Media Centre
of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (1995). Impact of landmines
in Cambodia; the Cambodian Women appeal for an end to mines.
To Kill and To Maim 22 min, produced by New Zealander Colin
McLennan. Shows landmine injuries, their treatment and rehabilitation
of victims. Warning! Some scenes may be disturbing. Colin now
lives in Raumati and is an excellent guest speaker.
The Cruel City 25 min. Impact of landmines in Afghanistan.New
Zealander Ross Stevens shows the children of Kabul injured by
landmines. Very moving.
The Ottawa
Convention; its history and operation. In years not decades
7 min, produced by Mines Action Canada (1998). Measured steps:
The global movement to ban landmines 16 min, produced by Canadian
Government (2000).
History of an utopie 52 min, produced by Handicap International
showing the French version of the history of the ICBL from 1992
(1999).
To borrow
the videos and other material you should contact John Head.
As our funds are in a delicate position, a donation to cover
the cost of postage etc would be welcome. Your local Red Cross
Office will also have a range of resources.
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First
Mineseeker airship deployment in Kosovo
The Mineseeker
Airship's contribution to the work of the United Nations' Mine
Action Coordination Centre (MACC) in Kosovo was the first time
an airship has been used in de-mining.
Mineseeker,
launched in March 2000, is an airship used as an aerial mobile
sensor platform for the survey and delineation of mined areas
and unexploded ordnance (UXO), including cluster bombs.
In 6 weeks,
from the beginning of October, the Mineseeker team surveyed
30 mine sites in all parts of Kosovo, using digital photography
and a high resolution Wescam camera to produce 60 hours of video
tape and 500 still pictures.
The Norwegian
Peoples Aid (NPA) were able to apply the aerial information
instantly to improve the activity of a team operating in the
challenging environment of a heavily wooded hillside, where
on-the-ground information is limited.
New Zealander
John Flanagan, Programme Manager for the MACC in Pristina, said
'...the Mineseeker has contributed to our greater understanding
of the scope of the mine and UXO problem in Kosovo, and the
data collected will be used extensively during the remainder
of the clearance operations in 2000 and 2001.'
The Mineseeker
team also trialled an Ultra-Wide Band radar which aims to detect
and delineate minefields and discriminate between plastic and
metal mines.
All overseas
news items in this Newsletter have been received through the
ICBL. Readers interested in getting regular, unedited email
reports about landmines and the international campaign against
them should contact the Convenor.
Canberra
Rotary helps remove Cambodian landmines
Australia's
Special Representative for Demining, Senator Kay Patterson,
congratulated the Rotary Club of Canberra Burley Griffin at
the end of November for raising more than $6000 for the Destroy-A-Minefield
Campaign.
This is
an Australian Government initiative to clear minefields in Cambodia,
under which every two dollars raised by the community will be
matched by one dollar from the Government.
Funds are
used by Australian and Cambodian deminers to clear minefields
in the provinces of Siem Reap and Battambang.
"These
funds will also contribute to clearing mines from the `Sunrise
Orphanage' just outside the capital, Pnomh Penh. The orphanage
is being relocated to land that is unfortunately contaminated
by landmines, so the Australian Government offered assistance
through the Destroy-A-Minefield campaign to make the new orphanage
site safe for children," Senator Patterson said.
Australia
funds demining, victim support and mine awareness in Cambodia
through its overseas aid program, including the Destroy-A-Minefield
campaign. Landmines are still widespread in Cambodia and a devastating
one in every 384 people is an amputee due to landmines. [M2
Communications]
The New Zealand Army in Laos
After years
of demining, Unexploded Ordnance (UXOs) are now less troublesome
and there is a move towards the localisation of the Lao national
UXO demining programmes. The New Zealand Government has been
asked to maintain our deminers there for a further two years
beyond January 2001, and then help fund a civilian programme
for a further year. They have also made a supplementary request
for one additional staff to codify training programmes and to
assist the US Marines who are working with the locals. The Marines
are handicapped because they are not allowed to go into any
area where there is live ordnance. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Trade and the NZ Defence Force are considering these requests.
Italy is destroying one of world's largest
land mine arsenals
As land
mine after land mine trickled down a conveyor belt, Maria Boninni
carved out a candy-sized, pink tablet of explosive and tossed
it into a small metal box.
About 20
civilian employees at a military munitions plant at Baiano di
Spoleto, in the hilly Umbrian countryside, are dismantling a
mine every 50 seconds - helping Italy evolve from one of the
world's leading land mine producers to a major destroyer.
"It's
a really unpleasant job," Boninni told an AP reporter,
without looking up from the belt. "But if we can save the
life of a kid or an adult . . . "
Over nearly
two years, they have dismantled about 3.1 million mines according
to strict environmental guidelines, mostly by hand and with
in-house produced machinery. They work in bunker-like buildings
hidden in the woods just kilometers from one of Italy's best-preserved
medieval hamlets, Spoleto. The various components - metal, plastic,
explosive - are recycled.
Until 1992,
Italy, together with China and the former Soviet Union, was
the world's leading producer of land mines, exporting them to
countries like Iraq and Nigeria.
Production
stopped in 1994 when Italy adopted a moratorium on production.
One of Italy's three landmine-producing factories has since
closed, and the other two converted into other industries.
Italy found
itself with 6.5 million mines, the biggest stock among the 138
countries that signed the 1997 Ottawa treaty outlawing the weapons.
Six countries, including France and Australia, have finished
destroying their stocks*. The government promises Italy will
be mine-free by October 2002, meaning workers in Baiano di Spoleto
must still handle another 3.4 million mines.
"We always have to keep in mind that every mine destroyed
is a life saved in Bosnia, Angola or Afghanistan," said
Rino Serri, undersecretary of foreign affairs.
A report
by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines , which won the
Nobel peace prize in 1997, estimates that more than 250 million
mines remain stockpiled in 105 nations.
Most are
countries that haven't signed the treaty and reserve the right
to produce and use land mines, like the United States, Russia
and China. U.S. President Bill Clinton wants his country to
approve the treaty by 2006, but only if the armed forces have
come up with an alternative to land mines. Russia and China
maintain they need land mines for defensive purposes. [Associated
Press]
* But both
France and Australia have retained many thousands of mines for
training purposes. Editor.
.
Overseas briefs
Nerve gas
landmine destruction completed: The operators of the Johnston
Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) completed destruction
on 29 November of more than 13,000 landmines filled with nerve
agent VX. These landmines were the last of the chemical munitions
stored on Johnston Atoll (825 miles SW of Hawaii) to be destroyed.
VX land mines were manufactured in the late 1950s and early
1960s and were designed to disperse lethal agent upon detonation.
They are filled with VX nerve agent, a clear, odorless and tasteless
liquid that affects the nervous system. More than 100,000 VX
landmines were manufactured in the United States and 13,302
were stored on Johnston Island. [M2 Communications]
Cambodia
- money for mines: Donor countries pledged US$5 million to Cambodia's
underfinanced mine-clearing agency in November, which will allow
it to rehire nearly 2,000 employees laid off because of a lack
of money. The state-run agency has been dogged by scandal for
18 months after reports of mismanagement of hundreds of thousands
of dollars came to light. [New York Times/ Reuters]
Last landmine
eliminated in Spain under Ottawa convention: A solemn ceremony
was held in mid November when the last landmine (of almost 850,000)
was destroyed. [Itar-Tass]
President
Clinton meets Vietnam landmine victims
When President
Clinton reached out to shake Hoan Quang Sy's hand, the 11-year-old
boy responded with a traditional show of respect, extending
both arms. But the left hand was missing, the result of a bomb
from a war over long before his birth.
Sy was among
four young boys who met the 4president in November during an
event highlighting efforts to clear an estimated 3 million land
mines and 300,000 tons of unexploded ordnance scattered about
Vietnam.
The youths
were maimed in the central province of Quang Tri, which straddled
the Demilitarized Zone during the Vietnam War and was the site
of fierce fighting.
Clinton
squeezed the boys' shoulders and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
put her arm around the short, slightly stocky Sy as the couple
viewed an exhibition of art by children injured by unexploded
ordnance.
One had
suffered severe burns to his face that led to extensive treatment,
including eight months at Boston's Shriners Hospital; more reconstructive
surgery is possible. A second lost his left hand and right eye.
His twin brother still has fragments in his body from the same
explosion.
Noting that
unexploded leftovers of war still wound or kill about 2,000
Vietnamese a year, Clinton called land mines ``the curse of
innocent children all over the world.'' He said the United States
will help remove them in Vietnam and war zones in Africa and
the Balkans.
``You will
have America's support until you have found every land mine
and every piece of unexploded ordnance,'' the president told
a group that included five members of Congress. ``This is the
tragedy of war for which peace produces no answer.''
Yet neither
nation has signed the 139-country treaty outlawing land mines;
the United States stockpiles an estimated 11 million of them
and Vietnam is still listed as a producer. Washington says mines
remain a necessary deterrent protecting South Korea from the
North.
Sy's father
and uncle were collecting scrap metal five years ago when they
found a bomb, according to Kristen Leadem of PeaceTrees Vietnam,
a group helping to remove mines.
When they
used a hammer to try to extract the explosive, the bomb went
off, seriously injuring Sy and killing his father on the spot.
His mother was left with six children to raise.
The Clintons
saw an outdoor exhibit that included a variety of artificial
limbs and wheelchairs, along with a large, rusting bomb and
dug-up mines, mortars and grenades.
The United
States has provided more than $3 million since July to buy mine-removing
equipment and survey the countryside. Clinton said Washington
had spent $350 million in the past eight years for such efforts
around the world. "I think we should do more,'' he said.
Some 3 million
unexploded devices were cleared in a 1975-77 campaign while
another, from 1991 to 1998 in the North, found 2.3 million --
and left 37 soldiers dead.
Clearing
infested land is especially important in a nation where three-quarters
of the population lives in the countryside farming small plots.
[Associated Press]
USA
and Vietnam urged to join global landmine ban
On the eve of President Clinton's historic trip to Vietnam,
the US Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) urged both the United
States and Vietnam to fulfill their commitments to eradicate
antipersonnel landmines by immediately joining the 1997 Mine
Ban Treaty.
"The
US is donating $1.7 million in mine clearance equipment to Vietnam
through the State Department's Humanitarian Demining Program
and we applaud this assistance," said Andrew Wells-Dang
of the Asia Pacific Center for Justice and Peace, a member of
the USCBL and researcher for the Vietnam section of the recently
released Landmine Monitor 2000. "Both the United States
and Vietnam should go one step further and immediately sign
the Mine Ban Treaty," he said.
"It
makes little sense to invest in mine action without addressing
the root cause of the problem," said Gina Coplon-Newfield,
Physicians for Human Rights, Co-ordinator of the USCBL. "Both
the United States and Vietnam have used, produced and exported
antipersonnel mines," she added. "They both bear responsibility
for the mine problem not only in Vietnam, but in other countries
of the world as well. They both can become part of the global
solution by not only engaging in mine clearance and mine victim
assistance, but by banning this indiscriminate weapon entirely."
The US and
Vietnam are among only sixteen remaining mine-producing nations.
Vietnamese officials have confirmed continuing production of
antipersonnel mines, but have also said Vietnam "will never
export" mines. The US has not manufactured antipersonnel
mines in at least two years and has an export ban in place,
but it reserves the right to begin production again at any time.
The US has 11.3 million antipersonnel mines stockpiled, the
third largest mine arsenal in the world after China and Russia.
The size and content of Vietnam's stockpile of antipersonnel
mines is unknown. [USCBL]
.
Deadly
leftover ordnance in Vietnam
Unexploded bombs, land mines and artillery shells
killed 38,248 people in the first 23 years after the end of
the Vietnam War, the People's Army newspaper has reported.
Another
60,064 people were injured through April 1998, it said, citing
statistics from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social
Affairs.
The paper
estimated there still are 300,000 tons of unexploded ordnance
around -- 2 percent of the 15 million tons of bombs, land mines
and shells used by US forces during the war.
There also
are unspecified numbers of land mines planted by the Khmer Rouge
and Vietnamese forces during the 1977-79 border war in southwestern
Vietnam and by Vietnamese and Chinese forces during their brief
but bloody border war in 1979. [But see next item]
Newspapers
carry reports of casualties from war leftovers virtually every
week, as many poor villagers risk their lives to scavenge scrap
iron for a little cash. [Associated Press report]
Chinese border landmines cleared
With final explosions last August in south China's Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region, China cleared all landmines from its border
with Viet Nam and declared the area safe.
When China
and Viet Nam fought over 20 years ago, millions of landmines
were planted along the 2000km border. After relations were normalized
between the two countries in 1991, a 7-year campaign starting
in 1993 saw China clear 2.2 million mines and destroy more than
400 tons of other explosives.
More than
17,000 hectares of farmland, pastures and forests were restored,
the threat to local villagers and their livestock has been removed,
local agricultural production has increased, and border trade
has soared.
[Beijing Review, August 1999]
.
Ratification
Progress. There are now 139 Signatories and 109 Ratifications/Accessions
of the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty. Signatories in the Pacific include
Cook Islands, Marshall Islands and Vanuatu. Non-signatories
include Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea,
Tuvalu, Tonga. Recent accessions included those of Nauru (138th)
and Kiribati (139th). The latest ratifications are Moldova (107th),
Tanzania (108th) and Romania (109th).
.
Items from minutes of the latest CALM Committee
meeting [Wednesday 1 November 2000]
Correspondence.
Bernard Dowiyogo, President of the Republic of Nauru, thanked
CALM for our letter congratulating Nauru on their Mine Ban Treaty
accession, and commended the movement's effort.
Landmine Monitor 2000. The RSA newspaper had a very full report
of the New Zealand launch of Landmine Monitor 2000. Copies of
the Landmine Monitor and Executive Summary will be sent to the
Pacific Island Governments, and to NZ universities (specifically
those with foreign policy departments) and libraries.
CALM oral history. John Head is proceeding with interviews for
an oral history of the landmine ban campaign in New Zealand.
Landmine Monitor 2001. Neil Mander and John Head are about to
start the research work for LM2001. Neil has just received a
draft of the questions to be specifically addressed this time.
The next Researchers' meeting will be in Bangkok, Thailand on
19 and 20 January 2001. The second Researchers' meeting will
be held in Washington USA in conjunction with the ICBL General
Meeting from 6 to 9 March 2001.
Disarmament Conference March 2001. This UN-organised Conference
will be held in Wellington on 26-28 March 2001 with workshop
sessions on 29-30 March. CALM will present landmine-related
workshops.
Cluster bombs. There now appears to be an increased willingness
by our MFAT to move on this issue, noting that there is a strong
move from Geneva to include cluster weapons in a new Protocol
to the CCW (Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons) at the
Review Conference in December 2001. It is expected that there
will be discussion on cluster weapons in a preparatory meeting
in December 2000. Agreed That CALM supports the call from the
Mennonite Central Committee US for a moratorium on cluster bomb
use.
Anti-Handling Devices on Anti-Tank Mines. The ICRC is planning
to hold a technical conference on this topic in March-April
2001. A leading American law firm (Arnold & Porter) has
issued a clear legal opinion that devices that can detonate
from accidental as opposed to deliberate contact are in fact
covered by the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty. Already some countries
have destroyed stocks of such weapons although others have refrained
from doing so.
MFAT meeting. Neil Mander, John Head, David Zwartz and Brian
Hayes met members of ISAC, MFAT. There was encouraging feedback
on many issues including LM2000, cluster bombs, and the ratification
process. It does appear that there may be additional Government
funding that could be made available for suitable mine action
work, but we would need to provide details on specific projects
(clearly identified as NZ projects) recommended for funding.
At the same time it is paramount that aid provided must be appropriate
for the conditions. We need to talk to Cambodia Trust about
their continuing involvement in this work.
ICBL. We must continue our support of the ICBL, with particular
emphasis on the NSA (non-state actors) working group, noting
that most APL use is by non-state actors. There are many complex
political and diplomatic issues involved. From 6-9 March 2001
the ICBL General Meeting is to be held in Washington, at which
the whole work of the ICBL will be reviewed. The ICBL has sent
out a questionnaire asking for proposals for its 4-year plan.
This was emailed out to Committee members who are asked to respond.
Korea. Indications from contacts suggests cautious optimism
that there may be progress towards resolution of the DMZ landmine
problem along with the improving relations between north and
south.
Other work. Other work to be continued includes support for
other groups (mine clearance, victim support, Lawrence Carter's
research).
This newsletter
was edited by David Zwartz, and despatched by John Head, Helen
& David Zwartz
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